Dawn Of The Son
by charmedgal005
Summary: Strange things are happening at the hospital where Dawn works. Buffy and Dawn are having the same dream. And now there is a new guy with mysterious slayer-like powers. And no one can figure out how it is all connected.
1. Prologue

**Title:** Dawn of the Son

**Author:** Spichik453

**Rating:** PG

**Summary:** Strange things are happening in Seattle where Dawn is an intern at a hospital. Buffy and Dawn are having the same dream over and over and over again. When two suspicious people show up at the hospital needing Dawn's help, everyone begins to think that the two might be related.

**Disclaimer: **Buffy the Vampire Slayer, it characters and premise belong to Joss Wheedon. I do not own Buffy Summers, Dawn Summers, Xander Harris, Willow Rosenberg or Rupert Giles or other mentioned characters from the show.

**Author's Notes:** What began as a Grey's Anatomy/ Buffy the Vampire Slayer crossover fic turned out to simply be a Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Although you will notice in Dawn's life there are some remnants of Grey's Anatomy. I have also never read any of the Season 8 comics, so I kind of put together what little I know from Season 8. So forgive any inaccuracies.

* * *

**Prologue**

* * *

Dawn angrily sighed as she reached across the aisle of the bus to grab clean gauze. It was not the fact that there was blood everywhere that was making her angry. No one should be able to bleed this much she though. No. It was her sister. Stupid Buffy. Stupid Buffy not saying anything.

"How does it look?" Dawn's potential she was treating asked. No, not potential, Dawn reminded herself. Slayer.

Peaking underneath the gauze and then at the girl just a year older than her, Dawn smiled. "You'll live."

"But will my arm?" The girl pressed.

Dawn did not know what to say. She kept bleeding, and it looked like a knife of some sort had done more than rip through a layer of skin. "I'm sure we're on our way to the hospital now." The girl just looked worried and put her head back on the seat again.

Dawn looked around on the bus. Almost everyone was either wounded and being treated, or was in need of some medical attention. Even Buffy sat at the front of the bus, holding gauze to her abdomen trying to think past the pain of being stabbed. But she was alone. She wouldn't let anyone help her, and she wasn't talking to anyone. Not about their great victory. Not about how the whole town was now a giant hole. Not about what was happening next. And it was making Dawn angry. Buffy did not say anything when Dawn asked "What next?" as they peered into the nothingness that was now Sunnydale. Well, almost nothing. Dawn hardly counted "Cookie dough" as saying anything. Probably just the ranting of someone who just went through hell and back, literally. Instead, Buffy just turned to Giles and nodded, as if the Slayer and Watcher had some sort of secret code as to where next.

Giles was the one that got everyone on the bus. Buffy was last one, and she just grabbed some bandages from Andrew and sat in the front of the bus. She did not even help Faith move Principal Wood from the drivers seat to make room for Giles to drive.

Did Buffy even realize that Dawn was still there? Dawn looked over at her sister again. Buffy seemed to be more pale than she was a few minutes ago. Whatever Buffy ended up doing now that home was gone, Dawn had to go too. Dawn couldn't believe that Buffy was not letting Dawn in on her plan. She had to have a plan, because she was Buffy, the Vampire Slayer. No. A vampire slayer. Buffy always had plans. Dawn noticed that the gauze Buffy was holding had turned red, and Buffy was not moving to change it for some fresh ones. Dawn grabbed the nearest hand, Willows, and forced Willow's hand to take over keeping pressure on the girl's arm. Willow already had her hands full treating Kennedy's head wounds.

It was a little bit difficult managing her way to the front of the bus. After all, Giles was driving as fast as he could. Dawn fell to the side of her sister when she got to the front. Buffy's breathing was shallow, and blood was now coming out of the bandage Buffy still had yet to release. Worst of all, she seemed to be unconscious.

"Giles. Drive faster." Dawn insisted. Giles glanced over his shoulder at his Slayer, someone he thought of as his daughter, and panicked, which luckily translated to stepping on the gas pedal harder.

Dawn motioned for Andrew, who came over with a pillowcase of medical supplies. Dawn reached into the bag, and as she was doing so, Andrew looked around at the state of the bus. "You know," he mused to no one in particular, "one of the Scoobies should get some serious medical training."

"Maybe it should be you." Dawn said, replacing the gauze, crying, and praying. Her sister cannot die like this.

"I'm not a Scooby. You should." Andrew said before he walked off to help Willow.

Dawn looked at Buffy. How could she have been mad at Buffy just a few seconds ago. Buffy had just risked everything to save the world, literally. And if she did have a plan, she always told Dawn about it, well almost always. And Dawn did not think that Buffy planned for Sunnydale to be destroyed like it did, so it is unlikely that she had a plan beyond the hospital.

That was if Buffy made it to the hospital. Dawn took a deep breath, pushed some of Buffy's hair out of her face with her free hand (covered in blood), and thought about what Andrew had said.


	2. Chapter 1

**Title:** Dawn of the Son

**Author: **Spichik453

* * *

Chapter 1

* * *

Dawn sat up in her bed sighing as the alarm still went off to her side. She had the weird dream again. The one where she was running through the Sunnydale grave yard, and the demon with tentacles trying to bite at her ankle and her mom sitting on a grave laughing at her. She leaned over, turned off her alarm and walked across the hall to brush her teeth. Looking out the window in the hall it was clear that the weather was the same as always. Damp. What a far cry from California, or even Cleveland as where she had been living before she moved to Seattle. "Hurry up!" She said, pounding on the door. Her housemate, Lucy, was taking forever in the bathroom, and Dawn had to get to work on time. Deciding that it was better to brush her teeth after breakfast, and after Lucy had left the bathroom, Dawn wandered downstairs to the kitchen. Elizabeth was already at the breakfast table, dressed for work, eating a bowl of cereal. "Lucy still in the bathroom?"

"Yeah. That girl takes forever." Dawn offered. "Are we out of Raisin Bran?"

Elizabeth nodded. "Thomas is picking some up after he gets done with his shift today."

Dawn nodded, grabbed the Wheaties, and sat down. Elizabeth ate the last couple of bites and then stood up. "I'm going. I want to get the best cases today. I feel like today is my day to finally scrub in."

"I'll see you there." Dawn said taking her bite. "Lucy promised me she'd give me a ride in."

Elizabeth grabbed her keys. "Oh yeah. Your friend Willow called last night. It was before you were done with your shift. Nothing important, just call her back when you can."

"Thanks. See you in a bit?"

"Yep." With that, Elizabeth left, leaving Dawn alone in the kitchen. She heard Lucy get out of the bathroom, and she ate one more bite of breakfast before running up the stairs. Thomas would be getting back from the hospital soon and Dawn wanted to beat him to the hospital so that she wouldn't be late for work.

The second the door was opened, Dawn slid in. "Gosh Summers, its like you used to live with a lot of people in a tiny house." Dawn smiled to Lucy as she shut the door. If only she knew about the hoards of potentials that all stayed at the Summers' residence. Sometimes, it was easier to just ignore people trying to pry information about her past. They knew she was from Sunnydale, the "Sink Hole" town, and that she had strong connections to Cleveland. But Dawn had decided, nine years earlier when she had first started school in Cleveland that some things would be easier to hide if she just didn't say anything. It was not always easy to hide the fact that she was now fluent in Ancient Samarian, Babylonian and knew a demon language (or three) or the fact that she had helped her sister save the world. No. Seattle was a life apart from all the Slayers, and the Scoobies.

Moving to Seattle was one of the hardest decisions she had ever made. Going to school in a different state was one thing. But actually leaving without knowing when she was coming back was difficult. After her mom died, the Scoobies had become her family. There was not a day that went by that Dawn had to remind herself why she went to medical school to be a emergency room doctor. To help the Scoobies. Just in case there was another apocalypse. But as Dawn went to school, and more Slayers started turning up, Giles was able to find a doctor to help treat all the slayers, all while Dawn was training to be one. When it came time to pick where she was going to do her internship, Dawn thought long and hard. She could try the whole living away from the shadow of Buffy in a different state, or she could remain close.

Dawn took the leap.

Lucy was waiting impatiently for Dawn downstairs by the time Dawn had gotten dressed. Thomas was coming in the front door. He had been on call the night before and after a long shift, he looked like he was about ready to collapse. Which he did. All over Lucy's couch in the living room. "Your shoes better not be on the couch!" Lucy called as she and Dawn went out to the garage. As Dawn shut the door behind her she could hear Thomas' shoes hit the floor.

And so the day started. Aside from the dream, Dawn did not think the day was out of the ordinary. Even the dream was becoming normal routine. Three, four nights a week for the past month Dawn would find herself running through the cemetery, avoiding the weird demon with the tentacles and her mom. Dawn wasn't sure it was even a demon. She had never seen one that big. (The fact that she had seen demons was another thing she kept very secret from her new friends in Cleveland and Seattle.) Dawn spent only a second dwelling on the fact that she had had the dream every night for the past five nights, a first, as she grabbed a chart and went into trauma room two.

"What do we have?" Dawn said, looking at a young woman about 25, with long blond hair and an I Love New York t-shirt on. People were already rushing around the tiny room getting anything Dawn's attending might need.

"25 year old Jane Doe. Found out by the pier this morning." The paramedic reported as they moved her off of the cart and onto the bed. "Her blood has been drained but there was not a pool around her, and she's got these two punctures in her neck." The paramedic lifted up the hair to let Dawn look.

"What does it look like to you Dr. Summers?" Asked her attending Dr. Wilhelm.

Dawn knew what she thought. It was unmistakably a vampire. But she would lose all credibly when if she were to cry vampire. "I've never seen anything like it." Dawn said. "We should start giving her blood, and treat her for iron deficiency stat."

Dr. Wilhelm nodded and barked orders for the nurses and other interns to start following Dawn's instructions. While treating this woman, Dawn couldn't help but wonder. What kind of vampire would not finish their meal? She was found in daylight, which means that they did not turn her.

When a second patient came in the next day, and two the day after that, the exact same symptoms as the first woman, Dawn and the rest of Seattle started getting suspicious.


	3. Chapter 2

**Title:** Dawn of the Son

**Author: **Spichik453

* * *

Chapter 2

* * *

Dawn took a deep breath. When the seventh neck wound came in this week, this time dead, Dawn knew it was time to call the Scoobies. Seattle wasn't known to be a vampire hot spot. There was the occasional vampire death, but all in all, they did not show up at the hospitals, and not in Sunnydale type of numbers. But with the increase of the "Barbecue Stabber" victims, as the media had chosen to rationalize the incidences (so named from the two pronged barbecue utensil), and the media frenzy surrounding them, Dawn found herself having less and less time to call them. She had been going for almost 40 hours when her resident handed her a chart and told her to suture the man in curtain three. Dawn grabbed the chart, and pulled back the curtain.

"I'm Dr. Summers." Dawn said, introducing herself. The man sat up. Blood covered his skull. "What happened here?"

"Just a fight." He said, nonchalantly.

"Just a fight?" Dawn asked, suspicious, looking over the history that the nurse had taken.

He winced a little as Dawn pushed hair aside. "Well yeah."

"What cut your head?"

"I'd rather not say."

"I have to know to treat you. If it was the type of thing that could leave the wound dirty or little pieces, I should know."

The man thought about it for a minute. "A smooth stone."

"Could you be a little less vague?" He did not say anything. Dawn looked down at the chart as she grabbed the sutures. "Alright Mr. Varjack since you're not going to tell me, I guess I'm going to have to do a through check."

"Jake."

"Excuse me?"

"My name is Jake. Call me that. And if checking my head thoroughly is what it takes for me to be vague, then by all means, prod away." Dawn just rolled her eyes. Normally if someone was being like that, she would assume that they were drunk. But Jake did not seem to be that way. Looking at his eyes, oh his crystal blue eyes, Dawn could see he had not had a drink. And upon looking at him further, she realized that she liked the way that his slightly shaggy light brown hair curled around his face. She liked the way his face looked when he smiled as he said his name. Dawn quickly shook such thoughts aside as she finished the stitching his head.

"Summers, when you're done here, we have another BBQ in trauma three." A nurse said poking her head in on the curtain.

"Almost done." Dawn promised.

"BBQ, is that what you guys are calling the vampire bites?" Jake asked.

Dawn did not really think about what he said. "Yeah well, you know vamps and the media. Barbecue Stabber is better than vampire." It was as she said vampire a second time that she realized what she said. "How do you know they're vampires?" She said, eying him.

Jake smiled, and returned the question.

Dawn liked the smile, but stood up. She had said too much. Bringing vampires into the mixture was just a bad sign, and this Jake guy seemed to know too much. Did he come to her just because he knew that she knew about what went bump in the night? "Stop by the desk, they'll have information on how to um, take care of your, um, cut." Dawn said a little bit flushed. She walked out of the curtain and into trauma room three. Not that it mattered. This man was already dead by the time that Dawn got there.

Instead of sticking around to help clean up or determine anything they could about her death, Dawn turned around and went into a broom closet and took her cell phone out of her pocket.

"Slayers R Us. You want a vamp dead, then let us know." Xander answered, fully knowing whom he was talking to.

Dawn smiled. Xander always was like a brother to her. "Hey Xander."

"So Dawny finally calls us about the vampires in Seattle." He said. Even over the phone she could hear his smile. Maybe there was still a little bit of her childhood crush left in her.

"Yeah. Sorry. When they start stacking up, they keep me working more."

"I hear ya. So what do you have?"

"Frequent vampire bitings. I mean I think just in the past six days we've had the same number we had all year. And its weird. They're being left alive. Barely, but enough that we've been able to save all but three. And the ones that are dead aren't all vampified."

"Hmm..." Xander thought on it for a moment. "Any thing else strange?"

Dawn thought about it for a minute. There were the dreams. They're becoming more realistic. She can now feel the grass underneath her feet as she runs through the cemetery. She can read the names on the graves, just like Buffy used to tell her she could do to freak her out about going patrolling. And her mom. She can smell her mom's perfume now. "Well," Dawn started.

"Creepy dreams involving the good old Sunnydale cemetery, a beasty and your mom?" Xander offered.

"How do you do that!"

Xander's voice got serious. "Buffy has been having the same dream."

Dawn did not know whether she was relieved or further freaked out. "Xander, what does this mean? And how did you know that we were having the same dream?"

"Willow."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"Wait, why would Willow know?"

"She sensed that you and Buffy were linked. Something about you guys having the same blood."

Dawn shifted her weight for a moment. She did not know what to think. "Xander, what does this all mean?"

"It means we're on our way."

"What?"

"See you shortly Dawn." Xander said, right before hanging up. Dawn just looked at the phone more confused than ever.


	4. Chapter 3

**Title:** Dawn of the Son

**Author: **Spichik453

* * *

Chapter 3

* * *

Dawn exited the closet slowly, hoping that no one noticed that she just spent five minutes in a broom closet, alone. Although, upon reflection, Dawn thought it was better than the time that she saw Lucy and the tall psych intern with the freckles coming out of the broom closet after fifteen minutes, fifteen loud minutes.

"Hey Summers." Thomas called, trying to catch up to Dawn as she walked down the hall.

"Hey."

"I just got on."

Dawn nodded. She couldn't help but feel that this was awkward. "That's nice."

Thomas stopped. "Sorry. What I mean is that the people you were expecting arrived at the house. And since I just got on, there is no one there with them."

"Who?"

"Your sister and her friends." Timothy said. "They said you were expecting them. They've been there for like two hours."

"Oh!" Dawn said. She rushed to the nearest nurse's station. "I need to go." She told Elizabeth who was just getting off her shift, and was just talking with Lauren the nurse.

"What?"

"I really need you to cover for me. I've only got like five more hours. But something major has come up and I really need to go home."

Elizabeth smiled. "Does it involve your sister and her friends?"

"Oh good, you talked to Thomas."

"Thomas? No." Elizabeth pushed her hair behind her ears. "I ran into them in the waiting room."

"They're here?"

"Yeah."

"Elizabeth." Dawn tried again. "Please. I will so take ten hours of yours next week. I really need to take care of this."

Elizabeth made a face that got her point across. She wasn't going to be happy about finishing Dawn's shift, but she was going to do it anyway. "Thank you! You're the best!" Dawn said, hugging Elizabeth and then running to the waiting room.

Xander, Willow and Giles stood in the waiting room, and all rushed towards Dawn when they saw her coming. "Dawn!" "Hello!" "How are you doing?" "Look at you all doctor-y." "It is good to see you," "Dawny has grown up." They all started talking at once.

"Guys!" Dawn said, calming them all down. "It's great to see you. Where's Buffy?"

Willow smiled. "Just her luck, she went to the bathroom. Figured you were going to be a couple more minutes. Everyone else is setting up."

"Everyone else? Setting up?" Dawn looked confused. The three looked at each other trying to figure out who was going to be the one to explain to her what was going on, but they did not get the chance to speak.

"Dawn!" Seeing Dawn from across the room, Buffy came running to hug her sister. Dawn was all too happy to receive.

"Hi Buffy." Dawn said with a smile. She then turned to the four people who made up her family. "I wish I had known you guys were coming. I would have cleared my schedule."

"You mean what you're seeing isn't enough for you to clear your schedule?" Giles scolded, but only slightly. He knew that since becoming a doctor, if only an intern, slaying wasn't the top of Dawns list to do as it still remained on theirs.

"Is that blood? Have you been fighting?" Buffy said, suddenly noticing blood on Dawn's white coat.

Dawn looked down. Some of the blood from Jake's head had gotten onto her sleeve while she was suturing his cuts. "No. That is just me picking up the mess of someone else's fight. I work in an emergency room. Lots of blood. You should know." Dawn pointed out.

Buffy let the dig slide a little, and hugged her sister again. "Lets talk vamps." Buffy said. "Then we can reconnect."

Four months had been a long time to be separated from her sister like she had and Dawn smiled remembering how Buffy was always business first but always had time for Dawn time. Always is a little bit difficult to say, but most of the time. And she got better as the apocalypses got less frequent.

Dawn nodded. "I'm just going to go change. And then you can tell me who everyone else is and what and where they're setting up."

"You guys told her already?" Buffy looked at her friends offended.

"It kinda slipped." Willow apologized. Buffy just glared, and Dawn turned. Something hellish was brewing in Seattle, but she was glad to see her sister again.


	5. Chapter 4

**Title:** Dawn of the Son

**Author: **Spichik453

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Chapter 4

* * *

No one would talk business as they drove back to Dawn's house. It was not for a lack of trying. And no one told her who everyone else was, or what they were setting up. But they all were eager for Dawn to point out her favorite hangouts, and places she frequented. "Guys, I'm almost always at work. And when I'm not at work, I'm at home. Oh! They have really good pizza there." Dawn started to explain but got excited upon seeing her favorite pizza parlor that she had only visited once before.

"Then lets all go there!" Xander suggested.

"We had pizza last night." Giles moaned.

"I didn't." Dawn offered.

"Yeah, neither did I." Willow agreed.

"I did." Buffy added.

And for the first time since the gang had reunited, there was silence in the car. Dawn felt a little awkward. "You know, I have roommates." Dawn started. "It will be better to talk Scooby stuff in the car."

Buffy sighed; from the front seat she turned to address the others in the back. "She's right guys." She then turned to Dawn with an accusatory glance. "Why did you not call us sooner?"

"What!?"

"Yes, it was highly irresponsible of you. We have slayers at our disposal and you did not call us." Giles added. "What is the body count up to now? Nine? Ten?"

Dawn felt trapped. She instantly regretted not waiting until she got home. If they talked in her room, she could from hide the inquisition in her room. But while driving, there was no place to run.

"Guys, she was busy." Willow defended.

"Thank you Will."

But Willow wasn't done. "Plus, she thought she could take them on herself." Willow had intended it to be a complement and an explanation of Dawn's actions, even though Willow had no idea of the truth was. It did not help. In fact, it only made things worse.

"You're going vamp hunting by yourself?" And with that, Buffy went into her protective older sister mode, going on about how Dawn did not have slayer strength and she could get hurt. Dawn knew that there was no getting around it. Buffy had been protecting her since Dawn was the key. Even though Dawn has proven herself more than capable in more than one apocalypse Buffy still insists on treating her like a child. There was no point in pointing out that she was on her own, and was an adult, who had medical training. A medical training that she got so that she could take care of her sister. Just once. Dawn took a deep breath as she pulled into the driveway.

"I have not been patrolling." Dawn said, turning off the engine and facing the whole gang. "In fact I don't have time to go patrolling, which is also why I did not call you. One or two vampire deaths is not unusual, but this only started to get unusual lately. Ok? There. Now, this is my house. I don't know who is home, if anyone. We're going to go inside, I need some coffee and then you guys have some explaining to do. Like who is "everyone" and what are you guys setting up!"

The others were a little bit stunned at Dawn's outburst. "Sorry Dawny." Xander said breaking the silence. The others nodded in agreement.

Without another word, the Scoobies went into Dawn's house. They had all helped her move in four months ago, but they had not seen the place set up, and were impressed. It did not have a communal living of four single people fresh out of medical school feeling like they were expecting, with mismatched furniture and random posters hung sloppily on the wall. The furniture all matched and it felt like, well, a home. They moved into the living room, and took a seat, except Dawn. She remained standing, staring at the others.

"Everyone's keys are still missing." Dawn said. "We're here alone." She folded her arms, "Now talk."

"Dawn," Buffy started, "We brought some of the more novice slayers with us. And their baby-faced watchers. That is who everyone is."

"And Vi. And her watcher, who is also new." Willow said. "Someone to watch over them while we are here with you."

"There are only eight others." Xander tried to smooth things over. Dawn relaxed a little bit now that they were starting to explain.

"And we've rented an apartment to make slayer headquarters." Buffy continued. "Vamps have tended to stay away from Seattle, which is why we're concerned with this body count."

Giles looked up sheepishly at Dawn. "I have some books that my contacts have said might help figure this out."

"What?" Dawn asked. "Its a vamp gang. Just like it has been in the past."

"There have been other signs, floods, plagues, earthquakes. It is a global context, and I think the attraction of Seattle for Vampires is an indication that something bigger is happening." Giles offered. "These sources are written in a demonic language that is similar to Junluln and there is only one person I know who can translate Junluln."

"Giles I gave up the study of demonic languages in college." Dawn sighed. "And you said it is similar." But the Scoobies were all looking at Dawn with a pleading look. "No promises. I still have my demonic texts upstairs."

"You keep those in your house! Where your roommates can see them!" Giles asked incredulously.

Dawn laughed. "They're hidden in the back of my closet. And its not like they can read them anyway."

"Great! Lets get this apocalypse fighting underway!" Xander said standing up. "First, we need pizza from that place that Dawn pointed out, and then we need to get my car from the hospital. And then Dawn can start looking at odd symbols and make meaning out of them."

"We should go to Slayer central." Willow suggested.

"No. We talked about this. We're going to let them try to figure this out on their own as much as possible. Vi will be alright. She has two apocalypses under her belt. We're only here because Dawn is here and we're going to fix it if they can't. I like Xander's plan."

"Yes, pizza though. Mmmm..." Xander said. "Pizza makes my tummy happy."

"Fine, pizza yes." Buffy said. "Oh! Maybe we can get the kind with the cheese in the crust that is so gross after its cold, but is really good when it is still hot."

"Oh yes! And lots of olives!" Willow added.

"Olives? No, no. Mushrooms and sausage." Giles said.

Xander looked hurt. "What? No. Pepperoni?!?"

Dawn watched the people she felt closest to argue over which kind of pizza to get with amusement. If the fate of the world rested in the hands of these people, the world was doomed... again.


	6. Chapter 5

**Title:** Dawn of the Son

**Author: **Spichik453

* * *

Chapter 5

* * *

Dawn, Giles and Willow sat upstairs in Dawn's bedroom, pouring over the books that Giles had brought with him and the ones that Dawn had hidden in her closet. "Ok, so I'm thinking this next passage either says 'And the mouth will take up new residence' or 'eat grilled cheese at home'. The translation is a little bit rough." Dawn said.

"I'm going to say the first one is right." Willow said, making note of the translation.

"Willow, will you please read what we have translated so far?" Giles said, taking his glasses off and cleaning them.

"When the earth shakes and the son of the earth meets the daughter of the earth, the mouth will take up new residence to restore balance."

Dawn fell backwards. "Five hours and all we have is this cryptic message?"

"Well, we do have several more pages to translate. Perhaps those will be more helpful." Giles looked at the chaos that had spread across Dawn's floor. Every book was open, and paper with all sorts of notes were everywhere. He smiled remembering how the Magic Box's table used to look like when they were deep in research mode. With so many slayers needing experience when they were in research mode, each girl only got a book or two and then they spread out across the school. Stupid slayer school. Taking away the research from the Scoobies who then get tied up in administrative business. Giles had to admit that he missed the days when Buffy was the only slayer, and the only people he could rely on were the Scoobies. It was more of a family atmosphere then. With the founding of the school a couple years back to help with the training of the slayers and with the new council, that family had loosened. But here they were, and it was like old times, but with less books, and Giles suddenly looked around, there was no coffee. "Where is Buffy and Xander with the coffee?"

"Yeah, they went down to the kitchen like twenty minutes ago." Dawn noticing the same thing, but she corrected herself after looking at the clock. "No wait, like forty five minutes ago."

"Here we are!" Buffy announced coming through the door holding several mugs of coffee while Xander held several more.

"You guys were down there a lot longer than it normally takes to make coffee," Willow teased.

"Sorry." Was all Buffy provided, looking at her best friend a little bit red. "Did you guys get anything while we were gone?"

"When the earth shakes and the son of the earth meets the daughter of the earth, the mouth will take up new residence to restore balance." Giles repeated. "And we have no earthly idea what that means."

"Just once I would like to have a text that tells us the world is going to end next Tuesday from a demon named Bob who will do it by hitting everyone on top of the head with a giant hammer." Xander offered. In return, four pairs of eyes glared at him. "It would be easy to stop."

"We have been researching for five hours!" Dawn exclaimed. "I'm so in need of a break."

"Me too." Willow agreed.

"I think we all do." Giles said.

Willow smiled and looked at Buffy and Xander. "Except for Buffy and Xander who just spent nearly an hour making coffee."

Buffy and Xander were silent. "How about patrolling?" Buffy offered. "I don't know the cemeteries here, so having the gang together for a patrol would be helpful."

"Anything!" Dawn said, standing up.

"I agree." Giles said.

"Yeah, especially because you lied to me. This is nothing like Junluln." Dawn said.

Giles took his glasses off. "So it would seem."

"So, where's the best cemetery?" Buffy asked, to which Dawn only shrugged her shoulders. "Don't patrol much?"

"Thought you didn't want me to."

"Saddle up." Buffy said. "Weapons are in Xander's car. I guess we'll just go to the one that is closest."


	7. Chapter 6

**Title:** Dawn of the Son

**Author: **Spichik453

Chapter 6

Buffy was in the process of staking another vampire, while Dawn and Willow sat on the steps of a crypt. Xander and Giles were leaning against another grave close by hovering, waiting for their turn to get tagged in. "Since when has Buffy started taking the whole gang out on patrol? I thought we only got in the way." Dawn asked. Xander just offered his assistance in taking down the vampire, but Buffy turned him down.

"Frequently lately." Willow answered. "It's been weird. Ever since she started having these dreams, she's been on edge when it comes time to patrol. Has Buffy told you about the dreams?"

Dawn shook her head. "She doesn't need to. I've been having them too."

"Really? That has never happened before."

"No it hasn't."

"Is it scary enough for Buffy not wanting to be in a cemetery alone?"

Dawn shrugged. "Unsettling more like. I mean it's the Sunnydale cemetery, and mom is laughing at us? It is weird."

"Yeah."

The two sat in silence as they continued to watch Buffy fight, Xander offering his fighting skills, and Giles shouting tips, all the while Buffy is punning and letting her friends know that they aren't helping.

"How is the doctor thing going?" Willow asked.

"Good. I actually have to get back to work in a couple hours."

"I only ask because it looks like that vamp gave Buffy a pretty good sized cut on her arm."

"Yep. That would be blood. I can fix that when we get back to the house. That is why I became a doctor."

"Really? I did not know that."

Dawn nodded. "I knew that one of the Scoobies should be a doctor after the battle with the First, and we were on the bus. Buffy came so close to dying. And then the coma. I figured if I could have done something there, as we were driving to the nearest hospital then she wouldn't have spent the next four months in the hospital recovering. Actually, it was Andrew who suggested it. A Scooby doctor."

"He's doing good, you know. Really helping Faith and Wood in London."

"What?"

"Andrew. He's still searching for his atonement for being evil and all, by helping out with the school in London. He is actually doing really well, even though he still drives Faith up the wall. She actually gave him a plaque that says "I've been atoned for being evil" but he is still working. I think he actually enjoys the job."

"Oh."

"I only offered because I knew you wouldn't ask but wanted to know."

"Yeah, yeah."

"He wasn't that bad of a guy. And we all know you have a soft spot for the nerds, and the bad guys, which makes finding the guy in the middle hard."

"Are you using Spike and Xander as the nerds and bad guys?"

"Yeah?"

"I was thirteen!" Dawn laughed.

"Well, you dated Andrew for nearly three years! Talk about a nerd!"

Dawn smiled. "He was a big nerd."

"Oh look! Buffy is making a pun that means she's done!" Willow pointed to where Buffy had gotten the vamp backed into a grave, and the stake was inches from his heart. As soon as he was dust, and Buffy had taken a moment to breathe, the gang gathered around her.

"He was strong." Buffy said, as Dawn took a look at the gash on Buffy's arm.

"Did you ask what he was doing in Seattle?" Giles asked. Buffy only glared.


	8. Chapter 7

**Title:** Dawn of the Son

**Author: **Spichik453

Chapter 7

Dawn attempted to lay low the next day at the hospital. However, she should have known better. Almost from the instant she set foot in the hospital she had more cases than she could handle, and after a night of researching and patrolling, Dawn had gotten next to no sleep, unless you count the forty five minutes she snagged right before leaving for the hospital. She sniffled a yawn as she stepped off the elevator. She held two charts in her hand, and was relieved that those were done, knowing that there were going to be at least two more waiting for her at the nurse's station. "Summers, the cute guy with the head gash is back today." Nurse Kelly informed Dawn before she even made it to the desk.

"Varjack?"

"That's the one. No one has taken his case yet, you want it?"

Dawn did not hesitate taking the chart from Nurse Kelly. Not only was it the opportunity to try to contain the fact that Dawn knew a thing or two about vampires, or that others might think she might know, but she did not mind looking at Jake Varjack yesterday. "Hello Mr. Varjack." Dawn said, pulling aside the curtain to see him sitting there scratching his forehead. This time the cut was on his leg. "Another fight?"

"Its Jake, and yes." He flashed Dawn a smile. "I'm glad its you stitching my leg up this time. The ones on my head haven't broken open yet."

"Thanks. After a day I'd hope that they would not have split. So what cut you this time?"

Jake looked down at his leg. "It was either a sword, or a stake. I cannot remember. One cut my arm, and one cut my leg."

Dawn raised an eye at both sword and stake, but decided to shrug it off. "Your arm is cut?"

Jake shrugged. "It is just a scratch."

Dawn sighed as she cleaned the large cut on Jake's calf. "You might want to consider another hobby." She joked. "Or don't quit your day job."

Jack scoffed. "You think that hunting vampires is a hobby? It's my calling."

"So you hunt vampires?" Dawn attempted to sound inquisitive without sounding judgmental. Why would anyone in their right mind hunt vampires? Well, besides her sister who was destined to fight vampires and the others who out of devotion to Buffy and a desire to good help her. And the other slayers. When it comes to the actual fighting though, they left a lot of it up to Buffy or the other slayers. Dawn could only figure that Jake was delusional, thinking that he could fight vampires. And part of her thought he was delusional for even believing in vampires. She had never met someone who did believed in vampires outside of their circle of vampire and demon hunters. Jake seemed to read Dawn's mind.

"Yeah, and don't call psych on me. I'm not crazy. They're the ones killing all those people lately. And I know you think its vampires because I think yesterday you slipped."

"I did not slip. I just spoke out loud that I think that if vampires were real, they would want to lay low."

"Oh they do." Jake tried to reassure Dawn. "But with so many in town someone has got to fight them. There were these girls at the cemetery last night. They were strong for little girls. I kind of just hid and watched. And then I got jumped by these two vamps, and I staked one, after he got my stake, and he is the one that cut my arm. So I guess the leg was cut by the sword the other one was carrying. But I dusted him."

Dawn tried so hard to ignore everything that Jake just said. They had gotten a report from Vi that the other slayers went patrolling in a cemetery last night, so Jake could have seen them. And after examining the wound in the leg, Dawn could tell that something sharp and clean did it, like a knife or a sword. And judging from how his shirt was ripped, Dawn could guess that the cut on his arm was going to look like a stake cut. Then there was the fact that Jake knew that vampires turned to dust after being staked. She was starting to believe him.

"Hunt vampires often?"

Jake shrugged. "Sometimes yeah. With the rash of killings I go out almost every night, and I generally get three or four a night. That is up from my one maybe two a week before. Something big is going down, you know."

Dawn only smiled. "Why do you think you need to kill the vampires?"

Jake laughed. "You mean besides the fact that they kill people?" Jake suddenly got quiet and his smile faded. He looked at Dawn seriously. "As my doctor you cannot tell anyone. But I've been alone in this for so long that I just need to tell someone. And you promise no psych evaluation if I tell you?"

Dawn hesitated, but so much of his story matched up with what she had grown up around that she had to find out what he wanted to say. "I promise."

Jake leaned in close to Dawn, who was in the process of stitching his leg. "I have these super human powers. I mean they're not so much powers as they are this strength. It is this instinct that I have to kill vamps. I'm still pretty new to the game and I may not have perfect aim for the heart every time, but I killed my first vamp my first time out."

"What?"

"Don't make me repeat it."

"No I heard you, it's just that..." Dawn's voice trailed off.

Jake leaned in, knowing that Dawn had some pressing secret. "Its just that, what? You seem to believe me."

"You're describing that you're a vampire slayer."

"Is that what I am?"

"It doesn't make sense. The slayer line passes through one female, and there is no way that you're a slayer."

"Is there a test?"

Dawn turned bright red. She knew she had said too much. She had to get rid of Jake Varjack, and fast. There was only one problem, she was only halfway done stitching up his leg. She stiffened up her back, and made sure that her done was flat and defensive. "No. There is no test."

Jake leaned back in his bed, letting the fresh bedding crunch a couple times before he spoke. "Sorry, I must have hit a nerve. I guess you probably said too much. I'm new to the whole vampire thing, so I'm not sure if there is a code of silence or anything. Its just that, when I'm slaying a vampire, it feels like I'm fulfilling my destiny or something." Dawn raised her eyes to look up at Jake. He was leaning back with his hands behind his head looking up. "It probably sounds lame or something."

"No. You sound passionate about it."

"So you believe me?" Dawn said nothing. "I'm going to take it from your silence that that's a yes? You're the first person I've met that even believes in vampires."

"Some people are lucky to have the luxury of not believing. Me? I grew up in Sunnydale."

"The giant sink hole town? What does that have to do with vampires?"

Dawn wrapped the bandage around Jake's leg. "Nothing. Listen. You want to know about vampires?" Dawn did not know what she was saying. It was word vomit. She shouldn't be doing what she was about to do, but at the same point, she could not stop. He talked like Buffy did when she used to talk about slaying. And he seemed dedicated to the job. She knew that she would either scare him away, or there was something to his story.

"Yeah?"

"Meet me in the lobby at 10 tonight."

"Yeah?"

Dawn did not say anything. "You can get directions for how to take care of this wound at the nurse's station when you check out. And no more fighting. I'm benching you for a while."

Jake smiled. "Yes Doctor."

Dawn smiled, and walked away from Jake, mentally slapping herself. This time she knew she had gone too far for a smile.


	9. Chapter 8

**Title:** Dawn of the Son

**Author: **Spichik453

Chapter 8

There was not a moment to spare before Dawn's dinner break to check in and to let them know about Jake. She was more than a little relieved to get a short break and an empty call room to call Giles.

"Giles, is it possible for there to be a male slayer?" Dawn asked after they had exchanged pleasantries.

"Absolutely not. No way. The ancients made only one slayer, and it was a girl and the slayer line is female. There is no way that there is a male slayer."

"But there was only supposed to be one chosen one. Do you think that the slayer line is so messed up that a male slayer was created?"

If Dawn were outside she would have heard crickets. Instead, she could actually hear Giles clean his glasses in stunned silence. "Well, I guess. Maybe. But probably not."

"I think I've met one."

"What?"

"Here, he's come in the past couple days with cuts and stuff from fights, talking about vampires and stuff. And today he told me he has this super human strength and feels like dusting vamps is his destiny. He talks like Buffy used in her early slayer days."

"Bring him in. I'll have the new watchers assess him. And then I'll do it myself because God knows those are idiots out there! They let the girls go into a nest last night with little more than stakes! Buffy never went into a nest without major back up."

"Four slayers isn't enough backup? And I'm pretty sure she did."

"Yes well." Giles huffed. "Bring him in."

"I'll bring him to the apartment tonight. He's meeting me after work. So in like five hours or so?"

"Yes, very good. See you then Dawn."

"Thanks Giles."

Dawn sighed, grabbed a carrot from her salad, and laid down on the bed. She wasn't entirely hungry, but a nap would feel good. She had not even shut her eyes before her pager went off. Dawn grabbed another carrot, and walked down to the ER.

By ten Dawn could barely move. Jake was standing in the lobby waiting for her, with a smile on his face. "So, where are we going?"

"Someone that will either answer all of your questions, or kill you for knowing too much." Dawn said. Jake looked surprised. "I was kidding about the second part."

"Good. I'm quite attached to my life." Dawn chuckled.

Finding the apartment was a little bit difficult for Dawn who had not been there yet. What she found was that it was not so much an apartment but a small house. "I thought you said apartment?" She asked Willow as she and Jake crossed the threshold.

"Is this the guy you told Giles about?" Willow asked.

"This is Jake Varjack. Jake, Willow."

"Nice to meet you." They both said shaking hands.

"Well, the watchers want to test you downstairs. Buffy and Xander are out patrolling with the girls. And I need your help some more with the translation."

Dawn nodded, and walked into the dining room with Willow. Jake followed. "Oh, you can just go downstairs." Willow pointed to a door off of the kitchen.

"Right." Jake said.

As soon as the door was closed Willow cracked a big smile at Dawn. "Geez Dawny, way to bring home a cute one."

"You think?"

"I mean he's not my type being a he and all, but definitely cute."

"Technically he's my patient. Those stitches on his forehead and leg, those are my doing."

Willow laughed. "You've stitched us all up more than once!"

The conversation was making Dawn a little uncomfortable and she attempted to change the subject. "Alright, so what did you get on this translation while I was at work?"

When Buffy and the other slayers came home less than thirty minutes later, Dawn had fallen sound asleep on a pile of ancient texts. "Shhh..." Willow said to the herd of girls, and Xander before they got through the door.

"What's going on?" Buffy asked.

"We've kind of worn Dawn down. I think this is the first time she's slept since before we got here." Willow said.

Buffy took off her coat and draped on the back of the couch. "Is the guy she called Giles about here?"

Willow nodded. "Downstairs with the watchers. Giles is on the other side of the mirror."

"Double duty. Nice job G-man." Xander added.

Buffy and Willow looked at Xander as if he was speaking Greek. "What I meant was that Giles is testing the watchers and their ability to identify a slayer and this guy, all while no one knows it."

"We got that." Buffy said.

"I put in some good double sided mirror work and secret room today. I got to say."

"There is a reason we keep you around." Willow agreed.

Buffy looked into the dining room where Dawn slept. She walked over to the table, and got Xander to help her move Dawn to the couch. Using Dawn's coat and Buffy's coat, she made a blanket for her sister. "I'm going to go join Giles in the secret room." Buffy said, to which Xander nodded in approval.

"I'll go help Will with the whole researching thing."

As Buffy was coming up the stairs, Giles was coming up. "What do we have?" Buffy immediately inquired.

Giles took off his glasses, cleaned them, and looked at Buffy. "Very good evidence of a slayer. If this guy was, well, a girl, I'd say we have a slayer. But,"

"He's a he." Buffy finished. "See, that is what is so messed up." She sat down at the table. "How can there be a guy slayer?"

"We did mess up the whole slayer line," Willow said, looking up from her book, "First with Xander bringing you back from the dead, and then me, Tara, Xander and Anya bringing you back, and then calling all the potentials, and then the bringing you back from the dead, and then that other slayer, what was her name?"

"Lilly." Xander offered. "Lilly wore the short skirts. Me likey the short skirts."

Buffy glared at Xander. "We get the point Will. Have I really died three times?" Everyone nodded; Buffy shrugged. "Giles, is this going to be a problem if the slayer line switches to the male line?"

Giles simply shook his head.

"I kinda like the slayer line being female." Willow offered. "Not too many female super heroes. Except now. With all the slayers."

"I'm more concerned about the slayer secret." Giles said.

"There's a slayer secret?" Buffy inquired, suddenly very offended that she did not know the secret, even though she was the original current slayer.

Giles looked at Buffy, almost unsure if she was joking or not. "Of course. The existence of slayers? If this Jake person was able to tip off Dawn to his slayer existence, then who knows who else he told."

"Buffy told us that she was _the_ slayer, and look how we turned out." Xander offered. The three looked at Xander. The eye patch on over his left eye suddenly forced everyone to look down. It was a constant reminder of what bringing the Scoobies together cost one of them. "Minus my whole eye patch problem, no, not problem. I have the most authentic looking pirate costumes for Halloween."

"Xander, we aren't talking about people in a trusted circle, we're talking about the general public." Giles clarified. "If the secret gets out to too many people..."

Buffy cut Giles off. "We get the picture."

"Oh, I made some translation progress while you were out." Giles said, handing Buffy a legal pad. Willow and Xander leaned over in their chair to see over Buffy's shoulder.

"Its just a list of things that will happen if this mouth thing moves." Willow observed.

"Hey, its just another minor apocalypse." Xander said.

Buffy agreed. "This doesn't look worse than what happened daily in Sunnydale. But on a bigger scale."

"Yes, but Sunnydale was a Hellmouth." The second the word Hellmouth escaped Giles' lips a light bulb turned on for everyone at the table. "Dear lord."

Buffy pointed her finger at her friends, threatening them. "Don't tell Dawn."


	10. Chapter 9

**Title:** Dawn of the Son

**Author: **Spichik453

Chapter 9

Daylight was passing through the windows of the headquarters when Dawn was waking up. She heard voices in the kitchen and followed them. She found Vi with a couple of the slayers and watchers eating breakfast. "Morning Dawn." Vi greeted.

"Good morning." Dawn was still blinking the sleep out of her eyes. "Is there any raisin bran?"

Caroline, one of the young slayers shook her head. "Lyle ate the last of it as a post-patrol snack last night."

Lyle, a young, inexperienced watcher, scoffed. "It wasn't me. As soon as we got back from patrolling, I was downstairs working with this Jake guy." The seven people in the kitchen all looked at Lyle, not believing a word he said.

Dawn only nodded. "Where is Buffy?"

"Scoobies are all downstairs. They saw us snooping on their notes last night, and moved to the basement." Caroline offered. "Do you think they're being a little hard on us? Making us figure out what is going on, even though they're doing the same?"

Dawn shook her head. "They were able to stop a lot more apocalypses than you guys have faced, and you guys are getting directed research. We used to do it blind."

Vi nodded. "My first apocalypse we had nothing to go on. We had to figure it out on our own."

"And by that she means, she just hung around the house learning to fight while we did the research." Dawn grabbed a piece of bread, and made a move to towards the basement. "I'm going to go join them."

"Psst, Dawn?" Lyle asked right before Dawn went downstairs. "Can you give us a hint as to what we're looking for?"

Dawn simply smiled. "Learn Junluln, or at least its derivatives."

What Dawn found when she got downstairs was not what she was expecting when they were in apocalypse mode. Giles, Buffy, Xander and Willow were all sitting around a Monopoly board. "What?" She asked upon seeing her pseduofamily.

"We're unwinding." Willow said.

"So you figured out the translation?"

Giles shook his head. "We got more. Everything after the whole mouth relocating bit is just a list of the consequences."

"So we're playing Monopoly?"

Xander said. "Killing time."

"And throwing off the other slayers. It is very convenient."

"I was going to call in sick to work while you guys play Monopoly? I think I'll head home, shower, and then hit the hospital. I owe Elizabeth for covering for me the other day."

"Don't. I've almost taken all of Willow's money." Buffy said. "We're going out for a scouting mission in a few. Just waiting for you to wake up."

Dawn sat down. "What about Jake? Is he a slayer?"

"Some of the other watchers are taking him out to see what he's learned about the cemeteries here in Seattle. But I would say, yes, we have a male slayer? Xander, did you land on Pennsylvania Ave? That's $26."

"Here's a thought," Xander said as he paid Giles, "Is he just a male slayer, a random fluke? Because everyone is talking like he is the beginning of a new slayer line. Or maybe being a slayer is now co-ed."

"It is a theory." Giles said. "There is no real way to tell unless he dies and we see who takes his place, which is not an ideal solution."

"When did he become a slayer?" Buffy asked.

"You didn't talk to him?" Dawn inquired.

"I haven't even seen him."

"He's cute."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Some of the nurses were commenting on it when he left yesterday."

"And he might be a slayer?"

"He's too young for you."

"What?"

"You like your guys several hundred years older than you." Dawn raised an mischievous eyebrow.

Before Buffy knew what she was saying, she blurted, "I'm dating Xander now anyway!"

Giles, Willow and Dawn all smiled at each other. "Ha! I knew it!" Dawn said.

"You knew!" Xander looked incredulous.

"We all did." Giles added.

Willow smiled. "You were terrible at hiding it." She turned to Buffy. "I've been giving you the I-know-what-you've-been-up-to-with-Xander face for weeks now."

"Really? You guys all knew?" Buffy asked. They all nodded. "Dawn, you've been here, how long have you known?"

Dawn shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe a couple days less than Willow? She called me like a week or so before you guys arrived telling me your behavior and we put everything together. I am your sister you know. You cannot keep secrets from me for very long."

"I can when you're across the country." Buffy attempted.

"Not when she's got eyes and ears in Cleveland looking out for her." Willow pulled Dawn into a half hug.

"So why are you guys really playing Monopoly?" Dawn said, noting that more money was being exchanged between Willow and Buffy.

Xander looked ashamed. "We found Lyle snooping at our notes. And since we want the green slayers to figure this one out on their own, I mean we're only solving it ourselves for fun and we miss you Dawny, we decided to move Scooby headquarters to the basement. Well, the other slayers saw us, was all impressed by our work ethic and instead of breaking their hearts and letting them know that we were just going to go to sleep, we decided to play Monopoly. They think we're working up there."

"Clever."

"Are you really going to work today?" Buffy looked at her sister, almost pleading for her to take the day off.

"If you guys are going to sit around playing Monopoly all day, I might."

"Don't." Buffy insisted. "After a nap, we're going to scope out the cemeteries, check out some crypts and get the lay of the land while the sun is up. And I've barely seen you Dawn."

Dawn was convinced. "Fine, but I'm going home for a little bit. I need to shower and change my clothes." She made a move towards the door.

"Oh, we made some progress on the translation last night while you were asleep." Giles handed Dawn the legal pad. "Its pretty much your standard apocalypse recipe, only we don't think it will happen at once, which means we are probably not facing a true apocalypse, but many large skirmishes between good an evil."

Dawn read through the translation. "Any idea who this daughter and son are?"

Giles shook his head. "My first instinct was that the daughter was Buffy, but she is technically not the daughter of the earth as the text suggests. Although it fits with the Jake if he is the son."

"I'm not the daughter of the earth." Buffy said. "I was given the soul of a demon. The first slayer was _made,_ not born of the earth."

"And so we're back to wondering who it could be." Giles finished.

"And the mouth part?" Dawn asked. She was still looking at the translation notes and therefore missed Buffy's threatening glance at Giles, Xander and Willow about telling her sister their revelation. When no one said anything for several seconds, Dawn looked up, but the only thing that they offered her was an apologetic smile. "Right. I'll be back in like two hours."

"Sounds good." Buffy said. Dawn walked up the stairs backwards, watching them play the game for as long as possible before getting off on the main floor. The four played Monopoly in silence for a few minutes, the only thing breaking the silence was players reminding someone of the rent owed. They waited until they were sure they heard Dawn drive away before Xander looked at Buffy.

"Ok, remind me again why we cannot tell Dawn?"

Buffy took a deep breath and sighed. "If she knew that a Hellmouth was forming under her city, she would freak. Dawn has spent so much time lately trying to escape Hellmouths, that knowing that one was opening here would upset her. Plus, she's worked so hard at the whole doctor thing and if she knew that there was a hell mouth right here, she would devote herself entirely to battling the evil. I don't want to see that. Better she just think that there is a spike in demonic activity. We can send a couple slayers here to keep the Hellmouth under control and then Dawn won't even notice a thing."

"Except the occasional apocalypse." Xander said. "Buff, I hate to break it to you, but that is a bad idea. Dawn is in this life. She grew up with a slayer in the house. She cannot escape the monsters, and she knows it. Its not that she's running from Hellmouths its that where she ends up there isn't one, and she doesn't want people to know about this whole lifestyle thing for the same reasons that Giles was concerned about Jake leaking the slayer secret to people besides Dawn. Dawn is a big girl, she doesn't need your protection anymore."

"That's why she became a doctor." Willow offered.

"What?" Buffy was a little bit offended that he friends were telling her about her sister and that they seemed to understand her more.

"She told me. When we were on patrol with you. She told me she became a doctor so she could take care of you."

"I, I, I don't need taking care of."

Willow nodded. "Tell that to the scared high school student who was watching her sister bleed to death on a school bus because no one knew how to stop it. Tell that to the same girl two years later who watched as her sister died a third time from a sickness because you were too stubborn to go visit an Italian doctor. Buffy, Dawn has seen countless times where you have needed a doctor and it would have either saved your life or shortened your recovery time. Don't tell Dawn you don't need taking care of."

Xander took Buffy's hand and kissed the back of it. "Don't tell me that you don't need taking care of sometimes."

Buffy sighed, giving in. She looked down, not sure who to look at. She just watched as the dice rolled a three and a four, seven, her lucky number. "Giles, that's $2000 for landing on Boardwalk with a hotel."

"Damn."


	11. Chapter 10

**Title:** Dawn of the Son

**Author: **Spichik453

Chapter 10

Knowing that her housemates were all asleep, Dawn tiptoed into her room. "So Dawn does live here." Elizabeth said, standing in her doorway.

"Hey." Dawn turned around to face her housemate. "Sorry about the other day and needing you to cover for me."

Elizabeth smiled. "No worries. You now owe me." Dawn smiled and turned around to shower. "What have you been up to?"

"Family is in town."

"Your sister? Buffy? How is she?"

"Good."

Dawn stood there, trapped between her bedroom and the hallway. She wanted to get back to the apartment the Scoobies were at. Jake would be back from patrolling with the other watchers and slayers, and Dawn wanted to know what the prognosis was. Instead, her roommate was trying to engage her in a conversation that she would rather not have. Dawn gave a half smile. "I better, um, move laundry." Elizabeth attempted to try to get out of the conversation, sensing the awkwardness that Dawn was showing.

Dawn nodded. Elizabeth walked past Dawn. She got to the top of the stairs before Dawn stopped her. "Hey, Elizabeth, when was the last BBQ we had?"

After thinking Elizabeth answered, "Two days ago. Hey that's pretty good! They were getting more frequent. You think this psycho is done?"

"Yeah, maybe."

It was Dawn's turn to leave the hallway when Elizabeth stopped her. She put down the basket of laundry and called out Dawn's name. She then walked up to Dawn. "So a bunch of us saw you leave yesterday with that patient." She teased, hoping to get some information out of her. "You know, the cute one."

Dawn turned a little red. "It's nothing. He just needed to find, um this place? And I knew where it was so he followed me in his car."

"You're doing the walk of shame." Elizabeth pressed, noting that Dawn was coming into the house in the same clothes that she went out in the night before.

Dawn's eyes grew at the suggestion Elizabeth was making. "I stayed at my sisters!!" Her voice got louder than she had intended it to.

Elizabeth took a step back. And Dawn instantly recognized the meaning behind that. The arms length she kept everyone at made her housemates unsure of how Dawn would react. "Sorry." Elizabeth was quick to apologize. "I didn't mean. I was just trying to make light. Since this crazy psycho killer hit the streets, we're always at work, and you're off with your sister and your Cleveland friends, and I just haven't seen you."

"I know. And I also know I'm covering for you this evening."

"Good, I have a date."

It was Dawn's turn to have the sly smile. "With who?"

Elizabeth said nothing. She simply smiled, walked back to her basket of laundry and walked down the stairs, a little bounce in her step as she thought about her date that evening. Dawn took it as her cue to go back to shower. With the possibility of the apocalypse on her mind, Dawn walked into the hospital. While everything was the same, it felt insignificant. Her regular work routine set in, and Dawn began to do her rounds.

Several times during her shift, she was standing at the nurse's station, and found herself lost in thought. The translation of the text was never far from her mind. When the earth shakes and the son of the earth meets the daughter of the earth, the mouth will take up new residence to restore balance. She knew that the text would be transparent if they ever figured out what it meant. When the earth shakes is an earthquake, and mouth, must mean an entry, a portal, a

"Hi." A deep voice pulled Dawn out of her thoughts, and for the briefest of moments to the chart she was working on. But then Dawn remembered that it was a man who spoke to her. She turned around to find Jake standing there, blood dripping down his forehead.

Dawn only smiled. "Where are the others?" She asked as she led him to a bed.

"They went back to the apartment. I told them I knew the layout of this hospital and knew a cute doctor there that would stitch up my head no questions asked." He smiled at her as she prepared the suture kit.

"How did it go?" Dawn asked. Jake winced as she began to clean the wound.

Jake smiled, his enthusiasm for a fight showing clearly. "I got a few. I also made contact with another stone, and this one was carrying a sword. Swords are new. I've never seen vamps with swords before."

"Yeah, they're the worst."

"And that Giles is a tightwad." Dawn laughed. "You have a nice laugh." Jake said looking up at Dawn. She merely blushed.

"Jake, you've got to stop risking it so much. You're going to get yourself killed before we figure out what you are."

"What I am?"

"Yes."

"So that's what's going on? You're trying to figure out what I am? You mean if I am human or not?"

Dawn shook her head. "There is no doubt that you're human, you just don't fit the pattern."

"There's a pattern? I mean I guess? I figure I fit the pattern pretty good. I was out with those girls last night, and man, they could fight! I think I am as strong as they are but they are precise, they know what they're doing as if it was their job."

Dawn sighed, put down her needle and looked at Jake in his eyes. "It is their job. To them, this is serious. They get hurt, and they don't go to a hospital unless it is a last resort."

"Oh. But what if I like going to the hospital?"

"Then you're the only one." Dawn's words were short, which Jake noticed. She put the last stitch in his forehead, and looked at him. "Pick up your instructions from the nurse's station on your way out."

"They the same as before?" Dawn nodded. "Then I know what to do."

"Just check out at the nurse's station. Doctor's orders. And do it for me."

"I will see you back at the apartment then? The one that is too full?"

Dawn nodded, and began cleaning up the mess. Jake quietly left, and Dawn went about finishing up her shift. But her head still was not in the work she was doing. The translation, Jake, Buffy, it all crowded her head. As the sun was setting the next day, Dawn exited the hospital. She drove straight for the apartment. As she got there, the slayers, all of them, were gearing up to go patrolling.

"You're going too Buffy?" Dawn said as she saw her sister grab a jacket.

Buffy nodded. "I am going to show them some new stuff. Willow, Xander and Giles are still going to be here. And Jake was coming back after his work shift."

"Oh. Hey, what do you think about Jake?"

Buffy shrugged. "I still haven't met him. If he were a girl, I would say he's a slayer. Hey, maybe he's a transvestite."

Dawn laughed. "Unlikely. It wasn't on his chart."

Buffy eyed Dawn suspiciously. "Reading up on him, have we?"

"Oh not you too. Elizabeth yesterday."

"Maybe there's something there to tease you about. It's my right as your older sister." A horn sounded from outside. "I have to go."

"Be safe."

"You'll be there to patch me up." Buffy said with a smile.

"Someone has to." Buffy smiled and left to join the other slayers already in the car. Leaving Dawn to find Willow and Xander watching TV with ancient texts surrounding them. Giles sat at the table, perfectly still. A large book opened in front of him. Dawn could see his eyes were closed. Which immediately explained Giles' motionless posture and his head so close to the writing. "Are we done with the translation?" She asked noting the inattentiveness to the books.

"Yes. Once we figured out that a Hellmouth was coming to Seattle, it was pretty easy to figure the rest out." Xander said, not really paying attention to who he was talking to. As soon as he was done, he looked up. "Hi Dawn."

"Hellmouth?"

"Buffy asked us not to tell you." Willow said, with a sheepish grin.

"You don't think I can handle the truth? I lived in Sunnydale just like you did. I was there for the First. I was the key. You don't think I can handle a Hellmouth in my city?"

"With your doctoring and all..." Xander began.

"You didn't think I would come back to rejoin the Scoobies, did you?" Both Willow and Xander remained quiet. "I am doing the whole doctor thing so that I could come back to the Scoobies as more than Buffy's little sister who needs protecting. To be more than the girl with the translations. I am here because my hospital has the best trauma center in the country and when you guys are battling your next demon and you need someone good at trauma medicine, I am going to be useful for something more than a translation or to keep Buffy sane."

"Dawn, it wasn't that." Xander said.

"Buffy was just trying to keep me safe? Isn't she tired of that yet? Because I know I am."

Willow and Xander sighed. "We still don't know who the daughter and the son of the earth are." Willow offered. "Translation girl?"

It was Dawn's turn to sigh. There was no winning this battle. Sometimes the Scoobies couldn't see past the fact that she was now more than she used to be. She sat down with a book and began to find out who the daughter and the son of the earth were.


	12. Chapter 11

**Title:** Dawn of the Son

**Author: **Spichik453

Chapter 11

"Jake, could you get me some more coffee please?" Dawn asked, holding up an empty mug. "Black."

Jake nodded. "Me too." Willow and Xander said in unison, also holding up empty mugs. Jake took all three mugs, and left the room.

"I feel like we're getting no where!" Willow said.

"Yeah, I feel like I've read the same page 20 times!" Xander exclaimed.

"That's because you have. You watch TV for five minutes, read the page, watch TV, read the page." Willow pointed out.

"Right. But we have no idea who these people are. We just have to keep them from meeting and all will be avoided." Xander offered. "TV is just the easier option."

"I agree with Xander." Jake called from the other room.

From under her breath, Dawn mumbled, "Only because you can't read these texts."

"Giles, what have you found?" Willow asked.

Giles, who was sitting at the table, brought his head up from the book he was reading. "Huh? What?"

Willow smiled. "We know you were sleeping. You haven't turned a page in over an hour."

"Oh, right." Giles cleaned his glasses. "Have you found anything?"

Everyone shook his or her head. "No, but Xander spilled the beans about the Hellmouth in Seattle to me." Dawn said. "Which helps me. It means that I'm not searching for this mouth thing on top of the son and daughter."

Giles nodded, and turned back to his book. Jake came back in with three mugs of hot coffee. "So is this what it is always like?" He asked Dawn, taking a seat next to her.

"Used to be." Dawn said. "Before all the others came, it would just be us, a pile of books and a small lead. We would read and try to figure out how defeat the big bad like that, and then Buffy would go and fight it. But now that we have all the other Slayers and we've restarted the watcher's council, a lot of the pressure has let up from us. I am able to live here, while everyone else lives in Cleveland and they only help people train for apocalypses and don't fight them as much."

"Doesn't mean we're not prepared though." Xander added.

"Yeah! We help teach the other slayers how to fight and how to research."

"Generally the TV is not playing Tom and Jerry when we show them how." Giles said, picking up his book and joining the conversation. Willow and Xander both nodded enthusiastically. "We also have a branch in London."

Jake sat there for a moment trying to take in all of the information he was just presented. Sensing that he was about to burst with a questions, the Scoobies just sat back for a moment and waited for him. "So much information."

"It happens." Willow said.

"You have got to have questions." Dawn offered. "Feel free to ask them. I think the verdict is that you're not evil. We just cannot figure out why you have all that strength. It goes against the laws of nature."

"Great, a freak." Jake said. "So those girls I was fighting with yesterday, they're what you call Slayers?"

"Vampire Slayers. It used to be one, but we muddled up the line of succession with a bunch of little, well big, things."

"Right. And we're facing an apocalypse so big you guys have gotten back into the game."

Xander answered this question for Jake. "Technically we never left the game. We were more of coaches. Yes. There is a possible apocalypse. We're helping out for fun."

"Fun."

Dawn nodded. "I couldn't handle all the vampires alone. Not with my night shifts at the hospital. You showed up just after these guys came."

Jake still sat in stunned silence. "Are you guys done testing me?"

Everyone nodded. "But we don't know what you are." Dawn added sheepishly.

"A freak. I go against the laws of nature. Isn't that what you said Giles?"

"That's what I thought when I was first told." Buffy's voice spoke from behind them.

"Buff! We didn't hear you come in!" Xander said, standing up to greet Buffy.

"I was really quiet. The other slayers and watchers are still out. I taught them their lesson, and now am letting them patrol. You must be Jake. I am Buffy, Dawn's older sister." Buffy held out her hand for Jake to shake. He stood up, and took it.

"Nice to meet you, I've heard so much about-"

It was at this moment that the ground began to shake. The paintings that came with the furnished house swayed from side to side until they finally fell off the wall. Buffy and Xander ran to the doorway right behind them, while everyone else scrambled to the one between the living room and the dinning room. Growing up in California, the Scoobies were used to both regular and demonic earthquakes. They knew where to run, and the natural conversation after. Jake, however, was not used to earthquakes, which was clear by the way he shook more than the ground. Somewhere in the scramble for the doorframe, he put his arm over Dawn to protect anything from falling on her head. As she heard the apartment creak, and everything shake around her, Dawn smiled. Jakes arm felt good on her skin. It was a whole of 20 seconds, but the consequences, Dawn knew, would be eternal.

When it ended, everyone slowly came together in the center. The Scoobies knew what an earthquake in Seattle meant. The prophecy they had been studying the past week had just come true. They simply stared at each other for a minute before Giles was the first to speak. "I guess we now know who the son and the daughter are."


	13. Chapter 12

**Title:** Dawn of the Son

**Author: **Spichik453

Chapter 12

Dawn let Giles' words sink in for a few minutes. The earthquake happened just as Buffy and Jake met. There was no question of that. Dawn took a few seconds to explore the possibility that it was just a consequence. But she had been involved in demons for too long to consider it for very long. Not when there was a prophecy about earthquakes they were studying. And the Hellmouth. It made logical sense that Buffy was the daughter of the earth and Jake was the son of the earth. Except that it didn't. She wasn't the only one that went through that thought process. She could see everyone else working out the same thoughts, and from the confused looks on everyone's faces, Dawn could tell that they were thinking the same thing.

"But the Slayer is part demon. That is not 'of the earth'" Buffy finally vocalized.

"Well the particulars don't make sense, but the rest of it all connects. It would explain Jake's slayer-like powers, it would explain the earthquake, it explains everything."

"Except the dreams." Buffy added.

"Oh yes, I quite forgot about those." Giles said. Buffy looked at Dawn. While both knew that the dreams had taken a back seat to the prophecy neither could forget about them. The now long gone Sunnydale graveyard. The demon. The tentacles. Her mom. Her mom laughing. And no matter how far she ran, there was always one more gravestone with her mother laughing, and the demon always catching up. It would seem like the run of the mill reoccurring nightmare, except that she and Buffy were having the exact same one. On the same nights, and their mom was always laughing. A demon Dawn can handle. Buffy taught her how to wield a sword. She knows when to run for help. But it was the way her mother laughed that unnerved her. Like there was some dangerous secret her mom was in on and it would lead to Dawn's death.

"Then lets figure out the particulars." Buffy sighed. She turned to Jake. "I guess this makes you a vampire slayer."

"Not a freak?"

"Oh no, still doesn't make sense. The slayer line has been female from eternity until now." Buffy said. "But it means you've officially entered training."

"Which means you study with us." Xander and Willow said together.

"And you train with me."

"Would his watcher be a girl?" Xander mused out loud. Buffy, Willow, Xander and Dawn turned towards Giles. "Since we've mostly been able to uncover guy watchers since the demise of the last council, would we have to search out and find some girl watchers to restore the balance now that the balance has been overthrown.

"Well, don't look at me. This is uncharted territory. We're going to have to use all of our resources to figure this one out."

"That earthquake means that the Hellmouth has shifted." Buffy said. "We're going to need a team here."

"Perhaps even a new branch." Willow said. "I mean Faith, Wood and Andrew are holding down London fine, and Cleveland is ok, but with a new Hellmouth means a whole new set of demons."

"Demons?" Jake whispered. "I've only ever seen vampires." His comment went unnoticed as everyone was trying to make sense of all that had happened and their next step.

"Before we even think about getting people out here to train, we need to think about what are we going to do tomorrow? And these dreams are prophetic. It is not as clear as my other prophetic dreams but it means something when Dawn is having the same one." Buffy reminded.

Suddenly, everyone was talking at once.

Jake was going on about he was ready to fight any vampire that came his way but he wasn't as sure about a demon. Would Buffy and the gang be willing to help him learn to fight?

Willow was talking about possibilities of opening a new training center branch in Seattle. The Scoobies would obviously stay together. Life isn't the same without everyone around. Would it make sense for them to move to Seattle? Who would be qualified enough to run Cleveland?

Xander was still thinking about which watcher to assign to Jake. Now that the Slayer line was all messed up, did that mean things would change for the watchers? Where would they even begin to look for a new watcher?

Buffy was just recanting the dream. Was some clue that they had missed that coincided with the prophecy about her meeting Jake and the move of the Hellmouth?

Dawn was still upset by the fact that Buffy came from a demon, not from the Earth. There was demon in her, which she used for good. And that was the slayer line. And yes, the slayer line has been messed up with all of the dying Buffy did and with the calling of the potentials, but was it messed up enough to call a male slayer? And was Jake just a fluke or was there going to be a male and a female line? Or was the whole line going to shift?

Giles couldn't help but try to answer everyone's questions while throwing out his own. It was time to get London actively involved. Should we call Faith now or should we wait until morning?

Dawn felt her pager buzz beside her. After a long shift at the hospital, which she just got done with a few short hours ago, the last thing she wanted was to be called back. She looked down, left the group, which was still talking all at once and called the hospital.

"This is Dr. Summers. I was paged?"

"Dawn, good." Dawn instantly recognized the voice of Timothy, one of her housemates.

"What are you doing answering call Timothy?"

"The nurses are all helping in trauma. I just happened to be picking up a chart when you rang. It seemed like my duty to answer. The earthquake has sent a huge number of trauma patients here. We could really use you here. There is a lot of blood and injuries and this guy just came in with the corner of a photo frame in his skull. We're talking like a frame! He cannot tell us how it got there but that's just the beginning! Someone else was lighting a fire and stumbled into the fireplace! Dawn there is some major carnage here, and tons of experience and hours are waiting for you."

Dawn was not entirely surprised that she was paged to come in. She didn't want to go. It was her time off. But at the same point, Dawn could feel herself being pulled in. She needed the trauma practice. Especially now that things were going to get worse with a Hellmouth in Seattle and Willow was talking about starting a slayer-training branch. Hellmouth plus slayers always equaled injuries. "I'm off. I've got family thing. And the earthquake messed up my sister's apartment pretty bad."

"So help us with the fun clean up here, and leave all of the unpleasant cleaning up for your sister."

Dawn sighed. "Who told you to page me?"

"Dr. Atul. He told me that we needed more trauma doctors, and you're one of them. Get your ass down here Summers. I'm not taking no for an answer."

"Ok." Dawn finally agreed. Dr. Atul, her attending, knew how much getting lots of experience meant for Dawn. He also was strict, to the point, and if you were paged in on Dr. Atul's request you did not say no. If you did, he would punish you by giving you less exciting patients or not paging you again. Dawn needed the experience too much to turn down the opportunity and experience the backlash later.

She hung up with Timothy and grabbed her jacket. Everyone stopped talking when they saw this. "That was the hospital. They need me there to help with some of the damage from the earthquake. I shouldn't be more than 5 hours or so. Most of the people will be reporting their injuries earlier rather than later." Dawn explained.

"But what about what we just discovered?" Giles seemed almost hurt by Dawn's need to leave.

"Figure it out. Call me at the hospital."

She left, and went about the routine of helping people at the emergency room. Without books on demonology, that were both dusty and beginning to smell, Dawn was excited to spend some time doing what she also did best. The traumas that Timothy said they needed help on were all taken by the time Dawn arrived. Dr. Atul also was a little bit peeved to hear Dawn's reluctance to come in when called. As such, Dawn had to settle for suturing people. She sat down at the side of one bed, without looking at the patient yet, Dawn began setting up the suture kit.

"I am Dr. Summers. Where were you cut?"

"You have grown into such a brilliant young doctor. If you had asked me 20 years ago if you were going to be a doctor I would have been hesitant, but look at you. My little Pumpkin Belly."

Dawn glanced up. The woman in front of her looked just like her mother. Talked just like her mother. The same curly hair. The same smile. Everything about her was the same. Right down to the sweater she was wearing. Dawn knew that sweater well. It was her mother's favorite sweater. The woman was looking down at Dawn with a mother's pride at seeing their daughter be a doctor. But her mom was dead. She died perfectly natural and human death almost fifteen years earlier. There was nothing in any of the books that she read about a spontaneous resurrection for someone who died such a death. And even then, such resurrections happened in a much shorter time span. Logic and most magic that Dawn knew told her that this was not her mother. Still, Dawn had to fight every muscle in her body to fight her desire to hug this woman. She looked like her mother, not even a day older than the day she died. She talked like her mother. Everything about her said Joyce Summers. Dawn sat there stunned. "M-m-mom?" She stumbled out.

"No. I just look like her. And talk like her. I have the same memories but I am not your mother." The woman said.

"Who are you?" Dawn stood up, frightened by this woman. She stumbled back a few paces. "You're the first."

"No."

"Who are you?"

"Someone that cut their leg and needs stitches."

"You, you, you have to find another doctor." Dawn said. "You cannot just call me Pumpkin Belly, tell me you're not my mother, and then ask for stitches on your leg. Who are you?"

"I am here to help."

"Why does mystical help need stitches?"

"Because I am bleeding."

"Demon?" Dawn cautiously took a couple of steps closer to the woman.

"Born that way. Sort of morph depending on my needs."

"Your need is to look like my mother."

"I don't have any power over what I look like. What form I take, or if I am able to bleed. By the way, my leg hurts. Can you please take care of that soon? I began to look like this a few days ago. And I'm sorry about what I said before about you being a brilliant doctor and being my pumpkin belly. Like I said. I have no control over who I am, and sometimes that leads me to say things."

"What are you?"

"Here to help. And that's all you need to know. Tomorrow I will be on the graveyard. Go there. Bring your sister. The information I have relates to both of you."

"Which one? Which graveyard?"

"Trust your instincts Dr. Summers. You'll know." Dawn began to clean the leg. "I was planning on going to your house this afternoon and telling you there. I was not planning on meeting you at your workplace. Work and demons should never mix."

"So you are a demon."

"Born that way. But it's complicated now."

Dawn decided not to press the issue any longer and finished the stitches on the woman's leg and watched her walk away. It was like watching her mother walk down the hall. The idea of it all unnerved Dawn. What was this woman doing? She knew that she could not stay at work any longer, and went home, much to the annoyance and disgruntled approval of Dr. Atul. Dawn knew the professional price she was paying but decided it was needed.

After telling the Scoobies about the encounter with the unnamed demon that looked like her mother, they stood there mouths open. A stunned silence that did not seem to match their usual talk all at once with theories and plans and ideas. The silence was making Dawn unusually uneasy. She slowly shifted her weight from one foot to the other, waiting impatiently for someone to say something. There was nothing more she could add to her story, so it wasn't her turn to say anything. Xander just had his arms around Buffy, and was clearly waiting for her cue. As soon as Dawn mentioned that their mother was at the hospital that afternoon, Buffy's body tensed up and Xander went into protect and comfort mode. This led to putting his arms around Buffy. The result was an instant relaxation. Buffy, on the other hand, was waiting for Giles' cue. Giles, on the other hand, thought Buffy should have the first word. Willow, amazingly, had nothing to say and was still stunned by the news. Jake sat on the couch, listening but not understanding. He should have been out with the other slayers, but he was way behind them on training and they had not returned yet; fact that added to the uneasiness but not enough to mention.

Dawn had had enough of everyone staring at each other. Time was running short. There were demons, apocalypses, and more vampires running around that needed to be taken care of. "Is someone going to say something?" She finally said.

Xander opened his mouth as if he was about to say something, but then changed his mind. Willow was next to do the same.

"Your mom is dead, right?" Jake said from on the couch.

"Yes." Dawn said. "For a while now. A completely natural and human death."

"Just making sure."

"When was the last time we actually had a demon admit that they were a demon when they were in human disguise?" Xander asked.

"It's only happened like once or twice." Willow confirmed.

Giles took off his glasses, and pulled his white handkerchief out of his pocket and cleaned them. "I think meeting with this demon is a bad idea." He said, sliding the glasses back onto his face. "This could be a trap or an ambush. And with those dreams you've been having they could be an omen as to what this demon has in mind."

"That's why we go." Buffy said, gently freeing herself from Xander's embrace. "We go in with backup. We'll take the other slayers and put them into position. And Dawn's encounter with this demon was perfectly civil. There is a chance this demon is on our side."

"Because that is usually what happens when a demon decides to make a heart to heart appointment in the cemetery. I'm sorry, I agree with Giles on this one." Xander added

"That is why we go out with a full force. We will just put everyone into position before the meet, and wait it out. If it turns out to be a fight, we fight, and we fight with a slayer's army. If it's peaceful then it's just a nice evening in a graveyard, and we do patrolling."

Jake stood up and joined the circle. "Will I be able to come to this?"

Buffy took a moment to assess how battle ready Jake was. Dawn did the same. She knew he could fight, or at least she knew he could tell stories about a good fight. The others actually knew what his fighting abilities were like. He had that determined look in his eyes. Determined, enthusiastic, with just a glitter of excitement. But she also knew that she had stitched him up three different times over the past week. From a doctor's perspective she would have to strongly discourage it. From someone who worked closely with slayers, her opinion was that he was probably an enthusiastic and sloppy fighter. A bad combination. Dawn suddenly found herself feeling protective of Jake.

"No." Dawn said. Everyone stared at her. When it came to fighting, no one ever asked for Dawn's thoughts. Nor had she ever offered them before. And if she ever came close to offering them before, it was never as strongly as she had just insisted.

"Excuse me?" Buffy asked, taking charge.

"As his doctor, I really don't like the idea of him going out to fight. I have now stitched up his head, his leg and his arm this week. And that is in the past three nights that he's gone patrolling. I will have to be at the graveyard with you, and I cannot be here to do the medical side of things. Besides, he's not as trained as the others. Probably a sloppy fighter. Which would explain the constant need for stitches."

"Hey!" Jake began to defend himself but one glare from Buffy shut him up.

Everyone took a second to listen to Dawn. Just as they were realizing that Dawn's argument had some weight, Giles spoke up. "Although, there is probably a reason why the slayer line is co-ed. Maybe Jake and Buffy are strongest when they fight together," While Giles was talking, Dawn suddenly had flashes of a possible future. Of Jake and Buffy finding out how strong they were together, and the great foes they defeated. Of Buffy and Jake realizing that the fights actually brought them to be best friends, and then lovers. Of a heartbroken Xander. But more importantly, a heartbroken Dawn. "The original slayer for this generation and the first male slayer have to possess some powerful bond.

"Then let's get some practice in." Buffy agreed. "Jake, head down to the basement so I can see what you fight like."


	14. Chapter 13

**Title:** Dawn of the Son

**Author: **Spichik453

Chapter 13

Dawn couldn't help but think about how familiar the scene felt. It wasn't just the fact that she was in a cemetery at night. She had been in many cemeteries at night. But as she walked past the graves, it was amazing to notice how familiar the cemetery looked. Something she was about to mention to Buffy before Buffy beat her to it.

"Ok, I know I haven't done much patrolling in Seattle, but I gotta say, this cemetery is looking a lot like that one in Sunnydale." Buffy commented.

Dawn nodded. "You know, I was thinking the same thing."

Buffy stopped and turned to her sister. "Is it wrong that I kind of miss the Sunnydale cemeteries?"

Flabbergasted, Dawn thought about it for a minute. "Yes. Very much."

"My grave is there."

"But you're not dead anymore."

"Mom's grave." Buffy said, her voice trailing off. After hearing Dawn's description of the demon they were about to meet, Buffy was a little bit unnerved. The idea of a demon looking, sounding and acting like her mother just seemed wrong. When Dawn was being honest with herself, she too was feeling the same thing, except that she had interacted with this demon before. And it was perfectly civil. The idea that the meeting was a trap crossed everyone's mind. And Buffy did not lead Dawn into an unknown cemetery without backup. Throughout the cemetery the three slayers in training, their watchers in training, Vi and her watcher, plus the Scoobies and Jake.

"If I didn't know any better," Buffy started, she pointed to a mausoleum by a tall oak tree, "I would say that over there is where I slew that vamp with the hook."

"You slew a vamp with a hook?"

Buffy shrugged. "Yeah. He was an easy dust, but it was kind of cool that he had a hook for a hand." To which Dawn had to agree.

"Buffy, what's the plan?"

"We meet this demon. Find out what it has to say, and kill it if necessary."

"And then? There is a Hellmouth in Seattle now and-"

Dawn was cut off by Buffy stopping dead in her tracks. Sitting on top of a grave was the demon. "Dawn, look familiar." Dawn nodded.

Even though Dawn had already seen the demon, it was still unsettling to see her mother sitting on the grave. She could feel every muscle in Buffy's body tense. An action that mirrored her own. "Buffy! Dawn!" It cried with the care and love that her mother used when it was time for pancakes on a lazy Saturday morning. Neither Buffy nor Dawn knew what to say. "Come on girls. Don't be shy."

Dawn resisted every muscle in her body that wanted to rush over and give the demon a hug. Since that was every muscle, Dawn was frozen. She felt five years old (not that she was ever five, but the memories of being five that were given to her), meeting her kindergarten teacher for the first time. Dawn couldn't say a word. She could barely let go of her mother's leg. Her mother just looked down at Dawn and smiled, saying, "Come on Dawn, don't be shy. Say hello." Gone was the confident woman who could read multiple demon languages and was almost finished with her trauma medicine internship. In her place was a scared girl, un-sure if she could approach the person she wanted the most.

"Who. Are. You?" Buffy finally managed after the demon sat smiling at the girls.

"I have a present for you."

And just like that, Dawn felt her courage and maturity fly back to her. With Buffy's confidence in being a vampire slayer, the original vampire slayer, Dawn could feel it return to her. "That did not answer my question."

"I am your mother."

Dawn clenched her fists. Buffy clenched her teeth. "You are not my mother. My mother is dead."

"But I resemble your mother. I have her memories, her mannerisms. I even have her favorite sweater. I am your mother."

"My mother is dead." Buffy insisted.

The demon hopped off the grave it was perched upon. "Alright. I see you are not to be trifled with. Whether you like it or not, I am your mother. I just have my memories too. I have no control over who I look like and who I act like."

"Alright. Since you claim you are Joyce Summers, then _what_ are you?"

The demon laughed. "I am known as The Gate Keeper."

"What do you guard?"

Buffy's tone was getting more and more agitated with each vaguely answered question that The Gate Keeper was giving her. As The Gate Keeper continued, Dawn was getting more and more tense. At the hospital, while unnerved, the sight of her mother there comforted her, but the more The Gate Keeper talked, the more Dawn could see that this was going to turn to a fight. It has been a while since she had been in a real fight. Not since she had returned to Cleveland right before her internship- almost a year and a half ago. Buffy took her patrolling and they ran into a vampire nest. Dawn did not do much to destroy the vampires. She had been knocked out before the third punch was thrown. But Dawn had faith in the other slayers. Over the years, the Slayers had become more powerful. Even though the Scoobies brought along their most inexperienced Slayers, they were still strong.

Dawn also had seen Jake and Buffy fight from behind the wall in the basement. They were strong together. She had never seen Buffy so strong, so focused, and so accurate. Bringing the original slayer and the first male slayer together gave both of them the power, the strength and the focus of someone more in tune with their powers. Buffy was amazed at how well she trained with Jake around. Jake, who was new to the slaying, was in awe of Buffy's skill and instantly took her to be his mentor.

Dawn was a little bit nervous as she heard Jake patter on about the training session in the basement afterwards. Her fears about her broken heart over a guy who she hadn't even dated or kissed yet seemed to be realized. The energy and detail that Jake was giving her about each punch was not what she wanted to hear. But Dawn put on her happy face and listened intently, hoping that Jake would see her for what she wanted him to see her. And just before Jake left to shower, he leaned over the table, kissed Dawn and smiled. "You are amazing."

Even though she couldn't see him, Dawn could tell that Jake, Vi and Willow were following Dawn and Buffy carefully. The other Slayers not far behind them. It was comforting. Dawn held onto that kiss along with the knowledge that Jake was behind her and it gave her just enough courage to not fall over.

The Gate Keeper just laughed at Buffy's question. Without a straight answer, Buffy repeated her question. "What do you guard?"

"I guard all that comes from the mouth."

"You guard this Hellmouth?"

Again The Gate Keeper laughed. "Not just this Hellmouth."

"All Hellmouths?" The Gate Keeper nodded. "One more question before I kill you, why do you look like my mother?"

"Honey, I am your mother. I guarded the Hellmouths from hell for centuries until some Greek monks looking to destroy me pulled me out. Instead all they could do was force me into random human forms. A bad move on their part. I have complete say over who comes and goes through the Hellmouth."

"So, you're good?" Dawn squeaked. "Keeping the demons in hell?"

The Gate Keeper laughed. "Far from it."

Dawn had not realized it, but The Gate Keeper was talking, a small tentacle had crept up behind her, and had taken control of her leg. A blood-curling scream escaped Dawn's lips, as The Gate Keeper laughed. The more Dawn struggled, the tighter the grip. "DAWN!" Buffy yelled. She tried to reach Dawn, but she too had a tentacle wrapped firmly around her leg.

With one swift tug, the tentacles pulled the Summers sisters to the ground. It then stopped pulling but did not release its captives. The Gate Keeper bent its knees and got eye level with the girls. "Buffy, Dawn, I'd like you to meet Torbacheck. Be polite girls, and shake its hands." The Gate Keeper went back to its perch on the gravestone, still laughing.

"WILLOW!" Buffy called hoping for some help from her Wicca friend. "XANDER!"

"JAKE!"

"Your friends won't be able to help you now." The Gate Keeper said. Torbacheck is very special. He's invited your friends for dinner." There was a calming sound, like leaves blowing in the wind, but it was accompanied by struggling grunts, that neither Buffy nor Dawn had noticed before. It was only a matter of seconds before their mini-slayer army had assembled, all constrained by the Torbacheck.

"Dawn!" Jake cried as soon as he saw Dawn there.

"Willow! Where's Xander?" Buffy asked, unable to see her boyfriend.

"I'm here." Xander assured Buffy. "Just a little tied up at the moment."

"See, as the Gate Keeper, I do control who goes up and who stays down. But usually they just have to pass a stupidity test. The more likely the success of their plan without exposing us, the more likely I'll let them go. The really stupid ones have to stay until they smart up."

"Buffy, these are getting tighter." Giles said.

"I cannot feel my leg anymore." One of the slayers complained.

"SHUT UP!" The Gate Keeper called. "I promised Buffy and Dawn a chance to listen to my information. And you're being rude interrupting me." It walked directly over to one of the other slayers and began to violently shake the girl's chin. The slayer cried out in pain.

Buffy waited until The Gate Keeper's back was turned, before reaching up her jacket sleeve, removing a large knife. After a little bit of a struggle, she reached over, and stabbed the tentacle attached to her leg. It twitched for a few seconds and then released its hold on Buffy. While Buffy was free, the others felt the Torbacheck increase its hold in retaliation. Buffy stood up, getting ready to stab the nearest tentacle near her, Dawn's.

In the blink of an eye, The Gate Keeper was in front of Buffy. It knocked Buffy to the ground. Buffy moaned for a second before jumping up and punching The Gate Keeper back. The Gate Keeper stumbled back, tripping on the grave behind her. Dawn used the distraction of the fight to attempt to get the now forgotten knife. She wiggled and reached but it was just barely out of her reach. The more she worked to get the knife, the tighter the grip. Dawn knew what would happen if her leg continued to be cut off from the blood.

"Dawn." Jake called. Dawn looked to her right. Jake had in his hands a small stick, just long enough and just thick enough for Dawn to reach the knife. He tossed it to her, and she caught it easily. But at that second, a tentacle sprang from the earth and pinned Jake's torso to the ground. With the sound of The Gate Keeper and Buffy as a background noise, Dawn used the stick from Jake to reach the knife. She could see Jake struggling to breathe. She stabbed the tentacle that held its grip around her, and struggled free. She then ran over to Jake, severing the tentacles that had him pinned to the ground.

"Thanks." He said. He bent down and grabbed a knife he strapped to his leg. The two ran around to the others, freeing them. All the while dodging different tentacles that kept springing up from the ground, trying to recapture them.

"Giles!" Dawn asked, as she helped him to his feet. "How do we kill the Torbacheck?"

Giles stammered for a second. "I don't know. Kill its head."

"Where's its head?" Xander asked. Vi and the other slayers had gone to aid Buffy in the fight. Jake stood with Dawn. The only thing they could see were the tentacles, that came from underground like tree roots.

"Is Buffy alright?" Giles asked, seeing a tired slayer emerge from the fight, letting the other slayers take their turn for a second.

"I know where the head is." Willow offered.

Jake stepped forward. "Where? I'll go stab it."

"You can't. It's underground. I can use a spell, and suffocate it." Willow said. "But I'm going to need some cover. And I need to try to figure out where the head is."

Everyone looked around. Buffy and the other slayers were struggling with the fight. The Gate Keeper may have been one demon up against five slayers, but it was winning. Knifes and other weapons came out of the girl's jackets but they would either wind up on the ground or used against them. Caroline was lying on the ground, propped up against a tree. Blood was undulating from a massive stab wound in her belly.

"I need to go take care of Caroline." Dawn said, rushing over to the wounded slayer.

"Jake, get over there and help Buffy. She appears to be strongest when you two fight side by side." Giles ordered. Jake nodded and ran over to Buffy.

Giles, Willow and Xander began scanning the ground for possible locations of the head. "Look at all these piles of dirt." Xander observed. As he jumped to avoid another Torbacheck tentacle, it suddenly occurred to him. "Every time a tentacle comes from the ground it moves the dirt around. The head will probably have a ring around it of dirt. Hey! That was pretty smart.""There!" Willow said, pointing to the gravestone where The Gate Keeper was recently sitting.

"Well that makes sense." Giles said. The three rushed to it, and tried to stand as close to the center of the ring of displaced earth as they could.

Willow handed off her knife to Giles and sat down. "Cover me." She said. Willow closed her eyes and concentrated hard. It was more of a challenge than she thought it would be. All the noise around her distracted her. Meanwhile, Giles and Xander with the help of the other watchers began stabbing wildly at any tentacle that was springing from the ground. Willow closed her eyes as if going to sleep. She sat perfectly still. Xander took a moment to notice that his best friend wasn't even breathing. He began to panic and ran over to Willow, expecting to see a tentacle wrapped around her cutting off her oxygen. He was mid-run when a tentacle grabbed a hold of him, dragged him to the ground. He hit his head on a stone on the way down, and then lay limp on the ground. Seeing this, Giles began making his way over to Xander to tend to him, jumping over various tentacles as he did. Just as he was about to trip on a tentacle, all of them went limp. Willow opened her eyes with a jerk and inhaled deeply. She looked up at Giles with a childish smile. "Is it dead?"

Giles looked around the graveyard. Fallen watchers were beginning to stand up wearily. Motionless tentacles littered the ground like twigs after a thunderstorm. "I assume so." Even Xander was beginning to come to. For their part, the battle was won.

The slayers were having a much more difficult time slaying The Gate Keeper. Caroline was already being treated by Dawn from where her own knife was used to slice open her belly. Two others lay on the ground, knocked unconscious. The remaining four were beginning to show signs of weariness where The Gate Keeper still had a spry leap in its step. Punch after punch was thrown. Kick after kick showed no results. The Gate Keeper would stumble back a few paces, gear up for its own move, and then render a slayer useless. Soon it was just Buffy and Jake throwing the punches. The Gate Keeper fell flat on its back when together Jake and Buffy kicked her in the torso in a perfectly synchronized fight. Before it had the chance to jump up, the two jumped on top of it, pinning it to the ground.

Buffy took out her knife and held it to The Gate Keeper's throat, ready to slice it off. Buffy looked down at The Gate Keeper. In that moment, all Buffy could see was her mother. She hesitated.

"Buffy." The Gate Keeper softly said, as if reassuring a young child. "You cannot kill me. You can destroy this body but I will have a new form." This time, Buffy didn't hesitate.


	15. Chapter 14

**Title**: Dawn of the Son

**Author**: Spichik453

**Author Notes: **Thank you to everyone whose support made writing this possible. Thank you to my readers who offered great reviews. I know you're all wanting more, but there is no sequel. Like a good Buffy episode, I'll let you leave the rest up to your imagination. Thank you everyone!

Chapter 14

When everyone else went back to the apartment, Dawn went back to her house. All she wanted was a shower and to take a nap. Instead she simply changed her clothes and drove to work. Caroline had been driven to the hospital at the end of the battle and any spare moment she had to spare Dawn was in Caroline's room. Her watcher, Lyle, went with Caroline in the ambulance and had not left her bedside. The other slayers stopped by but did not stay long because Dr. Atul ordered that Caroline needed her rest. When faced with demons of many varieties, the slayers were trained to show little fear. When faced with Dr. Atul, they did not question him. Even Dawn left the hospital room quickly when Dr. Atul barked at the crowd of people. Caroline had been through surgery, but because of Dawn's work under the tree in the graveyard, Caroline was going to live.

Compared to the busyness of the past few weeks with the rise of the vampire attacks, the emergency room was quiet. Dawn helped to set a few broken bones from a car accident, and treated a man who fell while climbing. He required a long surgery, which Dawn helped. By the end of the surgery and her shift 24 hours later, Dawn was exhausted. She had not slept in days and had fought the night before.

She changed out of her scrubs and began walking out to her car. Jake was standing in the hospital lobby with a small bouquet flowers. Dawn went over to him and gave him a hug. "What are you doing here?" She asked taking the flowers from him.

Jake shrugged. "After last night with the whole Gate Keeper thing and then Caroline being rushed to the hospital and you needing to get to work, we didn't get a chance to talk." Dawn put her nose in the flowers and smiled. "You know, about me kissing you." Jake turned to Dawn as they stepped out the front door. "It wasn't because we were facing an apocalypse or I was all pumped up from a great training with your sister. It was because you have literally changed my life." He took her hands. "I really like you Dawn."

Dawn simply smiled, and leaned over and kissed him. "That is really good news."

"Come on. Buffy is expecting us." Dawn nodded. She took Jake's hand and the two walked to her car.

Dawn walked into the temporary Slayer headquarters and found it the opposite of how she left it. Slayers and their watchers were watching a quiet romantic comedy. Others were playing a game of Apples to Apples, laughing at the ridiculous things people were placing down. After a week of being on high apocalypse alert, a level 9 according to Andrew's scale that no one followed, even their temporary victory last night was cause for celebration and relaxation. After a short make out session in the hospital parking lot, Jake informed Dawn that Buffy had asked for the celebration to wait. She wanted to talk to everyone at once, but not until she had talked to Dawn. Which is why, rather than a small victory celebration, the slayers and watchers were simply relaxing, something they hadn't done in a long time.

The Scoobies were not among those relaxing. "Your sister is downstairs with the other Scoobies." Vi said, looking up from the game of Apples to Apples after Dawn and Jake had said hello to everyone.

Dawn nodded, and went to the basement. Jake gave Dawn a nod, an indicator that he was going to stay upstairs with the other slayers. Her sister and the people Dawn came to love as family were huddled around the small card table talking intensely. "What's going on?" Dawn said.

"How was work Dawny?" Willow asked.

Dawn sunk into the spare chair between her sister and Dawn. Buffy pulled Dawn into a hug, which Dawn was more than willing to reciprocate. "Now that Vamps are starting to take the night off with The Gate Keeper at bay for a while, it was quiet. Nice. I still got to scrub in on a bone reconstruction surgery for a guy older than Giles who thought he could climb a tree still."

"I can climb a tree still." Giles defended. Buffy looked at Giles with a doubtful eye. "At least I can still run and fight demons. Trees might be a challenge."

"So good? I mean you like fixing things, so surgery is good?" Xander clarified.

"The guy is going to make it just fine. So yes, good."

"While you were gone, we have got to talking." Buffy started. "With a new Hellmouth here, and an unbeatable demon that keeps swearing to come back, we thought we'd start a new training school in Seattle."

"Really!" Dawn's voice couldn't hide the excitement that a slayer training school would be coming her way.

Buffy smiled. "Yes. It just made sense." Buffy's smile then got wider. "And we decided that Cleveland no longer held anything for us. So we're going to come out here. This is where our Dawny is."

It took every muscle in Dawn's body to resist the impulse to jump up and hug everyone. It was an urge she couldn't fight. Dawn's chair fell backwards at her fast jump. She squealed with delight and ran around the table hugging everyone, and hugging her sister twice. "This is so exciting!" She said sitting down.

"We were just going over some details." Giles said, pointing to a map of Seattle that Dawn had failed to notice before. "We need to figure out where to put the headquarters. We want to locate it centrally to the major cemeteries."

"And we were discussing how many apartments to get and how big of a training center, and where we were going to house all the girls and their watchers." Willow added.

"Oh I can totally help you with that." Dawn said. "This is going to be great. Who is going to take over Cleveland?"

"We had talked about Vi. She's got enough apocalypses under her belt and she did an awesome job with the slayers we brought with us here. We'll find some others to set her up with but I think she'll do a good job."

Dawn could only smile. "Let's go tell the others." Buffy suggested. They all nodded and stood up and headed up the stairs. Dawn took a minute before following the others. She looked down at the map at the table. The major cemeteries had all been circled. Dawn looked for her house in relation to each one. As she looked closely at the map, a pattern of the six major cemeteries jumped out at her. Five formed a perfect pentagram. And at the center was the largest cemetery. It was the one they had fought the Gate Keeper the night before. The Hellmouth. Dawn gave an ironic snort, and went upstairs. Seattle, even before the Hellmouth emerged, was a cursed town. She felt a little guilty, but it made Dawn happy. Everything was working out just the way she always dreamed it.


End file.
